Tracking events and trends in Israel, the U.S., Russia and throughout the Epicenter (the Middle East & North Africa)

(Washington, D.C.) — During my brief time here in the nation’s capital, in addition to working on my next novel, I’ve been meeting with Members of the House Intelligence Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other Middle East experts. We’ve been discussing the latest trends in Radical Islam and Apocalyptic Islam and how to confront these challenges in the years ahead.

On Thursday, I was interviewed by a political reporter about the presidential race and which presumptive nominee truly gets the magnitude of the threats we face in the epicenter and is effectively prepared to keep Americans and our allies safe. Here are excerpts from that interview:

Joel Rosenberg, a New York Times best-selling and award-winning author who focuses on radical Islam, said presumptive Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt and flawed Democratic candidate in history — but the Middle East expert isn’t too excited about presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump either.

“We’re in a strange moment where Hillary Clinton has the most foreign policy experience, but her judgment on the key foreign policy issues — especially radical Islam — is horrible,” Rosenberg, who is a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, told Breitbart News during an exclusive interview on Thursday. “She’s the most corrupt and deeply flawed Democratic candidate that has emerged in history and it’s not clear that we have a candidate at the moment who is able to play against her weaknesses on the issue of foreign policy….

He spoke to Breitbart News about the threat of radical Islam following the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv in which four people were killed.

“This is a pretty serious breach of Israeli security,” he said of the attack, noting it’s the first attack in three months in which civilians were killed. He also referenced a terrorist attack in Jordan earlier in the week, noting that he had previously met with King Abdullah II of Jordan. “We’re in this together.”

“We are allies in a real war, a hot war, against radical Islam,” Rosenberg added.

“We know that we are not in danger from all Muslims,” he said. “This is about a radical, violent subset, which is probably ten percent or less of the entire Islamic world according to a lot of survey data….”

“What’s stunning is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama absolutely refuse to define the threat to Americans and our allies as radical Islam. The president, of course, for seven and a half years absolutely refused to use the term radical Islam,” Rosenberg criticized, saying one must fully understand the threat posed in order to not be blindsided.

Although Rosenberg believes Clinton is an extremely flawed candidate for President of the United States, he isn’t supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump either because he’s “deeply uncomfortable” with Trump’s rhetoric with regard to his proposed Muslim ban, in which Trump suggested stopping Muslim immigration into the United States until an improved vetting system was in place.

“Donald Trump will use the term ‘radical Islamic threat,’” he explained. “What gives me real caution about Trump is … first of all, he refuses to commit to ripping up the nuclear deal with Iran.”

“To give them nuclear energy, ballistic missiles and a pathway to nuclear weapons is insane and Donald Trump won’t commit to scrapping that insane nuclear deal that President Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry negotiated. That raises serious questions about whether Trump understands the threat or whether he’s just picked up the rhetoric of radical Islam,” He questioned.

He also criticized the billionaire saying, “Trump has said we’re going to go kill women and children who are wives and children of terrorists. This plays directly into the hands of terrorists.”

Although Rosenberg is critical of Trump’s rhetoric and his proposal to pause Muslim immigration, he says he doesn’t believe Syrian and Iraqi refugees should come into the United States.

“I do not support opening the floodgates to allowing Syrian and Iraqi refugees to flood into the United States. We do not have an ability to vet tens of thousands of refugees that are coming from countries where ISIS and other radical groups are completely infiltrated,” he stated. “Hillary Clinton’s proposal to bring 65,000 more Syrian refugees into the country is incredibly dangerous and we absolutely should not do that.”

He said Trump’s mistakes come “when he says sweeping statements,” which are made “through inexperience and flawed instincts.”

“What we need to be saying is that the vast majority of Muslims are not a threat and we need to focus on radical Islam,” Rosenberg said.

[NOTE: These are my own personal views as an American citizen. They don’t represent in any way the views of The Joshua Fund, which is a non-political, non-partisan organization.]